October 1678. Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, respected London wood monger and Court Justice, sets out from his house, early one foggy morning, in his second-best coat. Then he vanishes. Six days later, his body is discovered in a ditch near Primrose Hill. He has been severely beaten, strangled and stabbed through the chest - killed three times, in fact. There's no doubt somebody wanted him dead. The cash in his pockets however is still there. And, in spite of the wet weather and muddy roads, his clothes are dry and his shoes are spotlessly clean.
People are quick to connect his killing with the role Godfrey has played in exposing a Catholic plot to kill the King. His name is, after all, an anagram of 'dy'd by Rome's reveng'd fury'. Parliament, whipped into a frenzy by the conspirator Titus Oates, demands a suitable perpetrator is found. But it soon becomes clear that Godfrey had not merely offended the Catholics. And he had, some weeks before, predicted his own death with uncanny accuracy.
Magistrate John Grey is summoned from his Essex village to investigate an increasingly inexplicable crime and to prevent some innocent men from being hanged as a regrettable political necessity.
Praise for L.C. Tyler
'Len Tyler writes with great charm and wit . . . made me laugh out loud' Susanna Gregory
'I was seduced from John Grey's first scene' Ann Cleeves
'Tyler juggles his characters, story, wit and clever one liners with perfect balance' The Times
'A dizzying whirl of plot and counterplot' Guardian
'Unusually accomplished' Helen Dunmore
'A cracking pace, lively dialogue, wickedly witty one-liners salted with sophistication . . . Why would we not want more of John Grey?' The Bookbag
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
ISBN: 9781408718759
Number of pages: 320
Dimensions: 198 x 126 x 22 mm
A fast-paced story bristling with suspense, drama, engaging characters, both real and fictional, and a thrilling plot peppered with devilish serpentine twists and caustic one-liners - Lancashire Evening Post
Unravelling a murder alongside John Grey is always a great pleasure and this witty and absorbing mystery is first class entertainment. Highly recommend - deborahswift.com
You want history? A quick internet search will give you the facts behind the death of Justice Edmund Berry Godfrey in 1678, the unlucky motivation behind Len Tyler’s latest Sir John Grey’s rousing story, “The Three... More
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